Titans Rally Past Cajuns in Seventh

Cal State Fullerton rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Southwestern Louisiana, 3-2, Saturday night and advance to the semifinals of the Titans’ PONY Invitational softball tournament.

The teams were tied for fifth in the College Softball World Series last year in Oklahoma City.

Traci Fischer singled in Chris Zboril with the tying run, and Monica Bagalayos, who had walked, came home with the winner when Southwestern Louisiana left fielder Lana Jimenez threw to an empty third base for an error. Beth Trueblood singled to open the inning, but pinch runner Barbara Saavedra was caught between second and third on Zboril’s hit.

“A good team finds a way to win, and we scrapped that one out,” Titan Coach Judi Garman said. “That base-running error almost killed us though.”

The seventh-ranked Titans (25-9) will play second-ranked Washington (27-4) at 11 a.m. today in the semifinals. Washington advanced with a 7-3 victory over Oklahoma State.

The other semifinal will feature top-ranked Arizona (25-3) against No. 6 Nevada Las Vegas (19-7) at 9 a.m. Arizona defeated Oregon State, 12-2, and UNLV stopped South Carolina, 4-0. The championship game is scheduled for 2 p.m. today.

Garman said the victory was especially sweet since it came against Southwestern Louisiana pitcher Cheryl Longeway, who pitched two seasons for the Titans before transferring. “She’s a great pitcher,” Garman said. The Titans had 10 hits against her, and sophomore Brandi Isgar (12-5) held the Cajuns to seven. Longeway, a senior from Cypress, was at Fullerton in 1992 and 1993. She had to sit out the 1994 season before becoming eligible again, then had a 28-6 record last season and set a Southwestern Louisiana record for strikeouts. The loss was her fifth in 21 games this year. Longeway was 15-3 and 12-5 in her two seasons with the Titans.

The Cajuns scored a run off Isgar in the first when Jimenez doubled and scored on Stephanie DeFeo’s two-out single. Fullerton, however, tied it with a run in the third on a double by Trueblood, a sacrifice, and the first of three hits by Zboril.

Southwestern Louisiana took a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh when Joni Podhorez scored on Vanessa Avant-Chapman’s infield hit.

Fullerton advanced to the quarterfinals with 4-0 victory over Northwestern Saturday morning in the championship bracket’s first round. Freshman Liza Brown pitched a four-hitter and hit a two-run homer in the sixth. The Titans had only three hits off Alison Ward. The Titans scored two runs in the third on three Wildcat errors.